Anger and I have shared a long relationship. A short tempered beast inside me would awaken at the slightest hint. At times, no reason was required. I used to get angry even if someone shouted at me. I used to get angry if someone played some harmless prank at me. I used to get angry at almost everything and everybody.
Then I joined Customer Service department in my present organization where my team consists of only ladies and most of them are elder than me. I learnt to have milder, no shouting and no high pitched conversation. I knew I succeeded to some extent when my colleagues started telling me “How come you are always so cool and calm? We have never seen you getting irritating on anything or anyone.”
Over the period my temperament may have got better (Zoobie disagrees) but my impatience to bad customer service has increased. In this post, I am sharing such instances of my impatience.
“Obviously” replied a cashier to me at a food joint when I checked with him whether a certain item from bill is deleted or not. I think word ‘obvious’ has become a sort of takiya-kalam in India and lot of youngsters use it anywhere in a conversation. I have always felt that this word brings some kind of arrogance in a person’s attitude and tone and should not be used at all if you, even remotely, deal with customers.
Once I waited for more than forty minutes to exchange my stuff for another product in an organized store. The staff had long list of their reasons for not doing it fast. I was frustrated, irritated but somehow managed not to show it to staff.
Long billing lines and long time taken during billing in organized retail stores can make saints shout. Products do not get scanned, mismatch in pricing and freebies not getting scanned are common reasons for delay. Whatever may be the reason, long billing lines raise my temper.
“I will call you after my meeting is over” is definitely the most overused excuse. I heard this so many times when I am chasing someone to get some work done and service provider is too busy to take up more work. But he is too courteous to refuse me outright. I have always felt this is height of unprofessional behavior and it does make me frustrated.
Customer following up with service provider, for which he has already paid, is somehow becoming a norm in Indian service industries. Ramesh wrote a post on how Indians are unable to work without follow ups. This poor work habit is being fast imbibed in Indian service industries and this irks me a lot.
Sales persons are busy on mobile phones while customer is waiting for their attention, is a sad sight and tests my patience. Are there any calls which are more important than customers? I doubt.
“Sir, I am calling from _____ company and we are offering blah, blah, ……, blah. Are you interested?” said the voice. A curt ‘no’ was my reply. “Thank you.” said the voice.
Attending calls of tele-callers which dole out scripts in mechanical tone is serious wastage of time, money and do bring me on the verge of losing patience.
Discounted products are promoted as full length advertisement in a newspaper by a retailer and he forgot to mention the stores where it is applicable. I once drove 60 kilometers to avail a certain promotional coupon but on reaching the store, it was communicated to me that promotion is not applicable in their store. I shouted at store staff, told them that you are losing a customer but nothing worked. I learnt to be more careful in reading ‘Terms & Conditions apply’.
Interacting with any call centre is a pain. After dialing the call centre number, punching more numbers, waiting for service representative for 30 minutes and then a call drop. Phew! It is a tough task and needs a truck load of patience which I do not have.
Biggest test of patience comes when stern processes and not common sense drive service professionals. Once my Delhi bound flight landed in Ahmedabad because of bad weather. Flyers were hungry and thirsty as there was no water on flight. Flyers could see shops open in airport but were not allowed to leave flight as it was against the process.
With these ten vents on impatience, I am through with my longest post on this blog.
In case you have something more to add to this list, please do share.
by le embrouille blogueur , on June 30, 2009 11:08 PM
Wow ... great post Adesh ... would have never imagined you to be a "angry young man"...thanks for "following through" with the tag ....lol ... I agree with you completely on the over use of "obviously"...my cousin who is a lawyer (I hope he doesnot read this) uses it instead of punctuation ....it does emit an air of arrogance ...also ..call you back(s) are very annoying...great post which I guess all of us can relate to on a day to day basis...
by rads , on July 1, 2009 4:30 AM
by Ramesh , on July 1, 2009 6:07 AM
@ Adesh - Wow. One of the best "10 things that get me mad post", on the tag that's going around. Written with a lot of feeling. Never imagined that you could get really angry - you are a super patient man these days.
Envy you leading a team entirely of women :)
by A journey called Life , on July 1, 2009 4:05 PM
can actually feel all ur frustration, am sure all of us have gone thru with this nonsense at one or the other points in time..
i always maintain, that since customer is the key, why not invest a lil bit more in keeping him happy (just by doing what is supposed to be done)..i mean that is what they get paid for .. right?
by Adesh Sidhu , on July 1, 2009 10:53 PM
@ LEB - Thanks. I won't mind if your cousin read this as my readership will increase :-)
@Rads - You please take care and get well soon. Please change doctor if his hospitals guys are not attending you well.
@Ramesh - Lot of people in my envy me because of the same fact.
@ AJCL - I am sure most of us through these situations and can relate to these.
by Mehul , on July 2, 2009 12:37 PM
bad customer service is by far one of the most annoying things. Can relate to pretty much all the points that u said.
sales people asking you to wait because they are on phone, and long wait times while calling customer helpline....seriously!